Bartolo Cattafi: The Rediscovered Italian Poet of the Second Half of the 20th Century
Bartolo Cattafi, who was born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto in 1922 and passed away in Milan in 1979, is regarded as one of Italy's most significant poets, despite remaining relatively obscure. His mother raised him in a middle-class setting after his father died before he was born. He developed an interest in art through his uncle and began studying law at Messina in 1940, although he gravitated towards literature. Drafted in 1943, he experienced a breakdown and returned to Sicily, where he wrote poetry during wartime. In 1956, he relocated to Milan, took a job in advertising, and released his first poetry collection in 1952. His prominent works include Le mosche del meriggio (1958) and L'osso, l'anima (1964). After a writing break, he resumed in 1971, continuing until 1978 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. L'osso, l'anima was reissued in 2022.
Key facts
- Bartolo Cattafi was born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto in 1922 and died in Milan in 1979.
- His father Bartolomeo, a physician, died four months before Cattafi's birth; his mother Matilde Ortoleva raised him alone.
- His uncle Enrico Barresi introduced him to the home of futurist painter Guglielmo Jannelli, frequented by Giacomo Balla, Fortunato Depero and Nino Pino Ballotta.
- Called to the front at Forlì in 1943, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent back to Sicily, where he began writing poetry.
- He settled permanently in Milan from 1956, working in advertising at Motta and then Pirelli.
- Nel centro della mano appeared in 1952 in Edizioni della Meridiana thanks to Vittorio Sereni, marking his poetic debut.
- Le mosche del meriggio, published by Mondadori in 1958, won the Premio Cittadella; L'osso, l'anima followed in 1964 and is considered his masterpiece.
- In March 1971, after seven years of silence, he wrote about four hundred poems in ten months; he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1978.
- L'osso, l'anima was reissued in 2022 by Le Lettere, edited by Diego Bertelli.
Entities
Artists
- Bartolo Cattafi
- Giorgio Bassani
- Carlo Bo
- Giorgio Barberi Squarotti
- Bartolomeo Cattafi
- Matilde Ortoleva
- Enrico Barresi
- Guglielmo Jannelli
- Giacomo Balla
- Fortunato Depero
- Nino Pino Ballotta
- Herman Melville
- Joseph Conrad
- William Faulkner
- Ernest Hemingway
- Cesare Zavattini
- Elio Vittorini
- Cesare Pavese
- Curzio Malaparte
- Luigi Pirandello
- Sergio Solmi
- Vittorio Sereni
- Ada de Alessandri
- Diego Conticello
- Diego Bertelli
- Ludovico Pratesi
Institutions
- Motta
- Pirelli
- Edizioni della Meridiana
- Mondadori
- Enel
- Le Lettere
- Artribune
- Amazon
- Pagine Nuove
- L'Ora
- L'Italia illustrata
- L'Indicatore librario
Locations
- Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
- Italy
- Milan
- Messina
- Forlì
- Sicily
- Palermo
- Europe
- Africa